Transatlantic Slave Trade

(15th – 19th century)

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“It takes more than a horrifying transatlantic voyage chained in the filthy hold of a slave ship to erase someone’s culture”

- Maya Angelou

Kevin Lu

Period 5

Origins of Slave Trade

• Portugal: first to heavily import African slaves, their advantage: ship building

• Cause for slave trade = economic-driven era

• mercantilism economy theory set the stage for slavery 

• based on the definition "country's wealth depends on capital (gold)“ (Chambers 543)

• slave = labor for raw goods => sell for capital in Europe

http://www.history.org/History/teaching/eft/slavetradesample/images/SlaveTrade_SampleLesson.pdf

Destination of most slaves

Origins continued.• Exploration => discovery of abundant

riches of West Indies, need labor for profitable, but labor-intensive sugar plantations in the Caribbean and Brazil

• Symbiotic relationship withIndustrial Revolution

• ~12 million slaves arrivein New World

Sugar plantation

Process of Indigo Dye

Triangular Trade

Triangular Trade – European manufactured goods like guns, gunpowder, glass, textiles traded for slaves => slaves sent to West Indies => in return raw goods like sugar, cotton, rice, coffee, tobacco sent to Europe

Middle Passage

• Dangerous Middle Passage• - journey in which slaves were captured and loaded onto ships to

travel across the Atlantic Ocean• Brutal conditions:

– unhygienic– overcrowded– disease– force-fed– lack of water– forced to “dance” to stay agile– death was common

• Arrival in Americas: covered in grease so that they looked healthy and more valuable at auctions, branded as possessions

• Seasoning - “breaking” or “conditioning” slaves for new life of laborLanguage and Culture• New name, loss of identity

and real communication with othersDaily Life• resistance, preservation of African language on the plantation to

organize together - subculture

Slave trader’s ledger

Crampled conditions

Slave Action Ad

Excerpts• From Slave Olaudah Equiano’s narrative (The Interesting Narrative of the

Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African) 1789 (Click here to read whole narrative):

“The noise and clamor with which this is attended, and the eagerness visible in the countenances of the buyers, serve not a little to increase the apprehension of terrified Africans... In this manner, without scruple, are relations and friends separated, most of them never to see each other again.”

• From An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa by Alexander Falconbridge, a surgeon on slave ships (1788)

“ Upon the Negroes refusing to take sustenance, I have seen coals of fire, glowing hot, put on a shovel and placed so near their lips as to scorch and burn them. And this has been accompanied with threats of forcing them to swallow the coals if they any longer persisted in refusing to eat. These means have generally had the desired effect. I have also been credibly informed that a certain captain in the slave- trade, poured melted lead on such of his Negroes as obstinately refused their food. . . ”

Zong slave ship court case, 1781

- London ship navigates to wrong shore

- Not enough resources for the overcrowded ship.

- Crew throws 132 alive slaves into ocean believing that since the slaves were property, they could claim insurance.

Former slave Equiano found out and alerted Quaker abolitionists. Case goes to court. Court first says it is allowed to kill “animals” for the safety of the ship, equating Africans to being animals.

Eventually, landmark decision concluded that the Africans were people. (Zong)

A Landmark Case recognizing slaves as humans

Read some more landmark cases

Europe’s RoleHow and why did slave trade start?• Portugal and Spain (15-16th century)

– Prince Henry the Navigator explored coast of West Africa by 1460, since North Africa was already occupied by Muslims

– Initially sought , but found profit in slaves– Spanish Asiento give permission for Great Britain to sell slaves to Spanish

colonies • Dutch (17th century)

– Dutch West India Company controls richest sugar crops in Brazil– Copper trade

• French and English (late 17th-18th century)– Captain John Hawkins, under the rule of Queen Elizabeth I, heads first

English slave ship voyage in 1562– first British settlement in Jamestown, Virginia 1607– France founds Quebec in 1608– initially, only British government can transport slaves through Royal African

Company, this changes in 1698 so rich can take advantage of this profitable trade – eventually known as capitalism (Alcott)

Gold

part of 1713 Treaty of Urecht with Great Britain

gives Britain full control over slave trade to Spanish

colonies, later, in 1748, part of Treaty of Aix-la-

Chapelle (1748)- renew Asiento contract with Spain

Impact in Europe

Economic

• Eventually jumpstarts Industrial Revolution with the profits made by sugar and other investments – advancement of technology

• Cotton as raw material in textile production => employment => shift in roles, women go to work => stimulate need for transportation => railroads

• 2nd half of 18th century, British wonder about the morality of this slave trade and religious groups of Quakers and Methodists began to organize and spread abolitionist messages

• Wealthy port cities, like Liverpool, UK develop

Background: The Slave Ship by JWM Turner (1840)-Humans are powerless to the storm and sea monsters (government)-Speaks out against the exploitation of slavery, the redness of the sunset symbolizes blood

The Slave Ship, http://personalpedia.wordpress.com/

Africa’s Role– Slavery has existed since ancient times– Global scale with growth of European colonial

expansion and demand for supply of slaves– European traders rarely go inland for fear of disease

and unknown territory=>they trade along the coast– Civil war and hostile rivalries within Africa led

Africans to capture and sell other Africans to European slave traders in return for to trade for goods like guns, gunpowder, textile, glass, iron (M'Bokolo)

– Become involved in slave raid (immediate profit return) instead of build powerful states which require time and greater cost (roads, border security, government system) (M’Bokolo)

– King Gezo (1840)“The slave trade is the ruling principle of my people. It is the source and the glory of their wealth... the mother lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to slavery...” (BBC)

Portugal makes contact with Kingdom of Kongo,

converts King to Christianity, gains footing in

Africa

Slaves being transported in Africa

Locations of most slave trading

Impact in Africa

• Difficult to assess due to lack of statistic evidence• Demographic shifts, uneven ratio of men to women

and population declines (Rubenstein 253)• Conflict among coastal regions who want to control

trade leads to internal war• Lack of agricultural and artisan development,

instead there is focus solely on slave trade• People afraid of getting captured, mistrust and fear

=> ethnic stratification (Whatley)• Rich kings and African slave traders => unstable,

unbalanced wealth• Small, divided states• Loss of contact with outside world – insulation,

economic stagnation, weak political structureSlave forts along the

coast

The New World’s Role• First slaves arrive on Hispaniola in 1502 on Cuba, then

Jamaica, South Carolina, Virginia, Colombia• Arrival of Europeans in New World brought diseases that

reduced the native population drastically• Only 5% of slaves go to North America, rest go to Brazil and

Caribbean (West Indies)• Black slaves fulfill labor force on the plantation• “Plantation economy” produces huge number of cash crops

like cotton, sugar, tobacco=> more slaves than European settlers ("Africa and the Transatlantic Slave Trade")

• practice chattel slavery which means that slave status was passed down to descendants, society revolve around mass export of commodities

• - vs. lineage slavery in Africa, descendants may not share the same status, slaves were given tasks that free people did not want to do, not laborious manual labor for the singular goal of maximizing profit

Impact on the New WorldUnited States1. Gabriel’s Rebellion

(1800), Vesey Conspiracy (1822), and Nat Turner’s Rebellion (1831)

Click here to learn more about the rebellions

2. Frederick Douglass aids abolition movement, Civil War, culminates in Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

South America3. Simon Bolivar – 1826

liberate South America4. Brazil Emancipation

(1888) (Chambers 776)

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3Click on

Thumbnails to Learn More

http://www.co.henrico.va.us/about-henrico/imgs/852.gif

http://repeatingislands.com/2011/12/17/the-dual-legacies-of-bermudas-denmark-vesey

http://www.biography.com/imported/images/Biography/Images/Profiles/B/Simon-Bolivar-241196-1-402.jpg

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~tshannon/hist106web/site20/brazil.htm

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Nat_Turner_captured.jpg/250px-Nat_Turner_captured.jpg

* Box shows New World

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Influence of ReligionAfrica• Before slavery: variety of religious, spiritual

beliefs• By 15th century, Portuguese missionaries

spread Christian beliefs in AfricaAmericas• Spanish government promise fugitive slaves

freedom if they came to Florida and converted (Muhammad)

• British slaveholders were afraid that Christianity would result in slaves demanding freedom (Muhammad)

• Colonies then passed laws that said conversion did not change their slave status

• Great Awakening spread messages like "individual freedom" and "direct channel with God" (same "one god" belief as those of African religions), concept of heaven, with Baptist and Methodist churches

Founder of Methodist Church, John Wesley

opposed slavery, published Thoughts on

Slavery in 1774

Learn More

Influence of Religion continued…Americas• Appealing to slave through similar actions of dancing, call-and-

response (ring shout) singing; missionaries say slaves would bond through a common religion, "social control“ (Muhammad)

• Several slave rebellions happen => plantation owners fear religion is cause behind these insurrections, restrict blacks from meeting, tear down churches (Muhammad)

Americas and Europe• use Bible to justify slavery – “bring civilization” Learn MoreAbolition Movement• driven by many reasons, including beliefs spread by Methodist and

Quakers, former slave autobiographies, awareness of inhumanity, French/American revolution

Click here to learn more about slavery and religion

Notable FiguresWilliam Wilberforce

• member of British Parliament

• dedicated to the abolition of slavery

• 1807 – 263 to 16 vote in favor of abolishing transatlantic slave

Toussaint L’Ourverture- leader of successful 13-year slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue on the island of Hispanola, gaining independence from France in 1804- influence from the French Revolution taking place overseas Click here to learn- grand-scale influence: Haiti become a refuge for slaves escaping from Jamaica, inspires Simon Bolivar to fight for Venezuela's independence, inspires enslaved blacks in United States to revolt

Decline of Slave Trade

• Olaudah Equiano (1745 – 1797) – slave who bough his freedom after 21 years, involved in the British abolition movement

• Haitian Rebellion at Saint Domingue of 1791 – abolish slavery, gain independence, led by Toussaint L’Ourverture (Chambers 598-600)

• British Slave Trade Act 1807 – abolishes slave trade, but not slavery. – Began with growing Christian duty, spread by new forms

of Protestantism, such as Quakerism to free the “oppressed savage” (Rubenstein 267)

– Led by politicians William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson• Treaty of Paris 1814 – includes agreement to end slave

trade in 5 years, in 1814 Dutch outlaw slave trade too • La Amistad (1839) – slave-led mutiny on ship from Sierra

Leone to Cuba => end up in U.S. court case, United States v. La Amistad, survivors return to Africa in 1842

http://faculty.goucher.edu/mbell/Master_of_the_Crossroads/Tlouv1.jpg

“God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the

suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of

manners.”

-William Wilberforce, 1759

LegacyAfrica• Lack of common language and

religion• Tension between state borders

caused by ethnic differences and unequal levels of wealth

• poverty due to lack of industrial/economic growth because younger generation is sold into slavery

Americas• Forever alters history => racism• key issue in American politics –

leading to many arguments between North and South states

• Modern day: African Diaspora – African Americans visit West Africa, research their collective history (inspire TV series: Roots)

“Point of No Return” Door, Goree Island, Senegal – slaves

exit homeland through this door

Click to Learn More

Infamous Elmira Castle, Ghana – slave trading outpost

Click to Learn More

Quiz1. Most important West

Indian cash crop?a) sugarb) goldc) tobaccod) ricee) Coffee

2. African slaves were converted to:

a) Witchcraftb) Laissez-fairec) Quakerismd) Christianitye) Islam

3. First country to begin contact with Africa?

a) Italyb) Britainc) Portugald) Spaine) France

5. Which was the destination for the most slaves?

a) Barbadosb) New England coloniesc) Mexicod) Brazile) Netherlands

6. Most of the slaves in the New World came from:

a) West Africab) Natives c) Prisoner of ward) North Africae) East Africa

7. The Middle Passage refers to:

a) Slave rebellion in Sierra Leone

b) Transportation of slaves from selling block to plantations

c) Introduction of Christianity to slaves

d) Slave capture in Africae) Voyage across the Atlantic

Ocean from Africa to America

8. The ever-growing demand for sugar was dependent on:

a) Stable British governmentb) Indentured servants from

Western Europec) New agricultural technologiesd) Rise of mercantilisme) Slave labor

9. Which was not part of the triangular trade?

a) Transportation of West Indies natives to Europe

b) European export of manufactured goods to Africa

c) Shipment of sugar, rice, tobacco to Europe

d) Ship slaves to New Worlde) All of the above are correct

1)A, 2)D, 3)C, 4)D, 5)A, 7)E, 8)E, 9)A

(Answers will show up here on next click)

Extra Links (Click on image)

• Transatlantic slave trade and abolition

• Very good PBS resource– broken in 4 time periods from 1450 to 1865

• Lots of good resources at the end of this page – pictures of slave forts, pamphlets related to the slave trade, autobiographies of slaves

http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/2-battleground/detail/almanac.html

http://consortiumnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/PBS_logo.jpg

http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Am_I_not_a_man-276x300.jpg

• Alcott, Washington. The rise of capitalism and the development of Europe. 10 Jan. 2013 <http://www.revealinghistories.org.uk/how-did-money-from-slavery-help-develop-greater-manchester/articles/the-rise-of-capitalism-and-the-development-of-europe.html>.

• “African Slave Owners”. BBC. 9 Jan. 2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/9chapter2.shtml>.

• Hathaway, Jane. Rebellion, Repression, Reinvention: Mutiny in Comparative Perspective. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001.

• Whatley, Warren and Rob Gillezeau. The Impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on Ethnic Stratification in Africa. <http://cliometrics.org/conferences/ASSA/Jan_11/Whatley.pdf>.

• M'Bokolo, Elikia. "The Impact of the Slave Trade on Africa." - Le Monde Diplomatique. N.p., Apr. 1998. Web. 10 Jan. 2013. <http://mondediplo.com/1998/04/02africa>.

• "Abolition." Abolition: (Library of Congress Exhibition). Library of Congress, 23 July 2010. Web. 18 Dec. 2012.• "Africa and the Transatlantic Slave Trade." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2012.• Appiah, Anthony, and Henry Louis. Gates. Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American

Experience. New York: Basic Civitas, 1999. Print.• Chambers, Mortimer. The Western Experience. 9th ed. New York: Knopf; [distributed by Random House, 1974.

Print.• Equiano, Olaudah. "The Middle Passage." Recovered Histories-The Stories of Enslavement. Anti-Slavery by

Heritage, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2012.• Evans, Martin. "Projecting a Greater France." History Today. History Today, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2012.• Lovejoy, Paul E. Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2000.

Print.• ""The Middle Passage"" "The Middle Passage" [ushistory.org]. Independence Hall Association of Philadelphia,

2008. Web. 18 Dec. 2012.• Obadina, Tunde. "Slave Trade as Root to African Crisis." Slave Trade as Root to African Crisis. Africa Economic

Analysis, 2000. Web. 18 Dec. 2012.• Rubinstein, W. D. Genocide: A History. Harlow, England: Pearson Longman, 2004. Print.• Scott, Jennifer. "The Slave Trade." The Slave Trade. Oxford University Press, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2012.• Shahadah, 'Alik. "African Holocaust." AFRICAN HOLOCAUST | Greatest Holocaust in History | Slavery |

Reparations| History. African Code, Oct. 2007. Web. 18 Dec. 2012.• "Trade and Commerce." Understanding Slave Initiative. National Maritime Museum, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2012.

<http://www.understandingslavery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=307&Itemid=152>.• “The Zong Case Study”. Understanding Slave Initiative. 10 Jan. 2013.

<http://www.understandingslavery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=373&Itemid=236>.• Muhammad, Patricia M. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: A Forgotten Crime Against Humanity As Defined By

International Law 11 Jan. 2013.< http://www.auilr.org/pdf/19/19-4-3.pdf>.

WORKS CITED/BIBLIOGRAPHY